Narratives about a stigma: attributing meaning to the early loss of deciduous teeth on children's caregivers.

Fernando Valentim Bitencourt,Ramona Fernanda Ceriotti Toassi,Jonas Almeida Rodrigues

doi:10.1590/1807-3107bor-2021.vol35.0044

Fernando Valentim Bitencourt, Ramona Fernanda Ceriotti Toassi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/1807-3107bor-2021.vol35.0044

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Abstract

Qualitative approach about the implications that occur succeeding the premature loss teeth is still insufficient. This study aimed to understand the experience of early loss of deciduous teeth in children's lives, from the perspective of their caregivers. Qualitative case study included 52 caregivers of children from an outpatient service of a public university in the south of Brazil. Early loss of deciduous teeth to trauma or caries was identified through analysis of health records, and afterwards, semi-structured interviews were performed. Textual material was interpreted through the content analysis proposed by Bardin, supported by the ATLAS.ti software. The theoretical perspective of stigma was guided according to the principles of the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, centred on the experience of early loss of deciduous teeth as a historic-cultural expression of a social group. According to caregivers, premature loss of deciduous teeth due to trauma or decay brings functional limitations with chewing and speaking, and impairments related to social interaction with other children. The repercussions of missing teeth were not limited to the child's image, but also brought changes in families' daily lives. However, when early tooth loss was due to extraction because of pain and suffering, caregivers perceived the loss as 'commonplace' in children's lives. The understanding of how children see themselves without teeth in their social world for their caregivers, which also includes their family and friends, determines how much experiencing tooth loss affects their lives. Besides, caregivers' perceptions related to early loss of deciduous teeth should be included in strategies of oral health promotion programs.

Highlights

Cultural norms and practices influence a wide variety of social factors, such as values, beliefs, and customs.[1]
Teeth loss could have been due to dentoalveolar trauma, extensive decay leading to extractions, and/or other specific situations resulting in early loss of a deciduous tooth
The results found below are consequences of the dialogue between the different perspectives and challenging assumptions of the researchers, associated to the theoretical framework adopted around the loss of deciduous teeth as a cultural expression of a social group[8,15,25,26,27,28] as well as other theoretical perspectives that guided in the analysis of the first[1,2,3,7,11,12,27,29,30] and the second[13,14,16,21,28,31,32,33,34,35] categories

Summary

Introduction

Cultural norms and practices influence a wide variety of social factors, such as values, beliefs, and customs.[1] In this context, parents or other caregivers are considered the main source of knowledge about the oral health practices of children, influencing health status in the long term.[2]. Tooth loss has several social and physical consequences. Some studies have described these experiences on adults.[3,4] For children, studies mainly describe the physical aspect caused by the early loss of primary teeth that include malocclusion, either retardation or acceleration of permanent tooth eruption,[5] and impaired pronunciation and chewing functionality,[6,7] yet few studies assess the social dimensions. No study to date has assessed the effects of these issues in children’s lives, from the perspective of their caregivers, employing a qualitative research approach through a phenomenological lens.[8]

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